Louisa May Alcott Author:Louisa May Alcott Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER II. CHILDHOOD. TO THE FIRST ROBIN. 1 Welcome, welcome, little stranger, Fear no harm, and fear no danger; We are glad to see you here, For you s... more »ing " Sweet Spring is near." Now the white snow melts away; Now the flowers blossom gay: Come dear bird and build your nest, For we love our robin best. Louisa May Alcott. Concord. MR. ALCOTT had removed to Germantown, Penn, to take charge of a school, and here Louisa was born, Nov. 29, 1832. She was the second daughter, and was welcomed with the same pride and affection as her elder sister had been. We have this pleasant little glimpse of her when she was hardly a month old, from the pen of one of her mother's friends. Even at that extremely early age love saw the signs of more than usual intelligence, and friends as well as fond parents looked forward to a promising career. 1 Written at eight years of age. Extract from a Letter by Miss Donaldson. Germantown, Penn., Dec. 16, 1832. I Have a dear little pet in Mrs. Alcott's little Louisa. It is the prettiest, best little thing in the world. You will wonder to hear me call anything so young pretty, but it is really so in an uncommon degree; it has a fair complexion, dark bright eyes, long dark hair, a high forehead, and altogether a countenance of more than usual intelligence. The mother is such a delightful woman that it is a cordial to my heart whenever I go to see her. I went in to see her for a few moments the evening we received your letter, and I think I never saw her in better spirits; and truly, if goodness and integrity can insure felicity, she deserves to be happy. The earliest anecdote remembered of Louisa is this: When the family went from Philadelphia to Boston by steamer, the two little girls were nicely dressed in clean nankeen froc...« less